(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a processor and a method of operation thereof particularly suited for target motion analyzers (TMA) applications, and more specifically to an apparatus and method for determining, storing and, plotting long term tracking history of a target being tracked for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditional methods of long term tracking of target onboard United States Navy submarines require manual paper and pencil plotting. A person known as a “geo-plotter” manually plots own ship and all target tracks onto a paper plot. This paper plot is typically kept for several days until the submarine moves into a new operating area or until the plot becomes too cluttered to maintain. Naval documents describe existing manual plotting techniques.
For several years electronic geographic plotting programs have been available on submarines; however, these programs have not been sufficient to replace the manual “geo-plotter.” All previous electronic programs have made the assumption that the tracking period will be less than three hours, which is not always the case. These electronic programs also disadvantageously assume a flat earth model and motion through a known water model, which sometimes leads to erroneous results. These electronic programs also store data into computer memory in a way that cannot be easily expanded and, more importantly, such that it may be lost in the event of a power cycle. It is desired that an electronic program be provided that is not predicated on a flat earth model and known motion through the water, provides several days of tracking history, and utilizes a small amount of computer space whose contents is not destroyed by power cycles while still providing accurate long time plots of targets.